-The Indian Express Families have a preferred number of sons at any given fertility level as well as a preferred fertility level.   In his maiden Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lamented the neglect of daughters, restrictions on their movements, parental attitudes that favoured sons, shameful rapes of girls and women, the lack of toilet facilities and sanitation. In a populist vein, he urged parents to treat sons and daughters...

-The Hindu "I lay the blame for a lot of this at the door of Parliament," lawyer and leading women's rights activist Vrinda Grover said. In January 2013, Seema (name changed), who had moved to Delhi from rural Bihar with her brother went to the Hanuman temple on Delhi's Panchkuian Road with 19-year-old Sameer (name changed). He put vermilion on her forehead, the couple embraced and now married in their own eyes,...

-The Hindu The Hindu investigates behind the rape numbers A six-month long investigation by The Hindu has revealed that the nature of reported sexual assault in Delhi is far more complex than earlier imagined. Among the key findings is that a third of all the cases heard during one year dealt with consenting couples whose parents had accused the boy of rape. Over the last six months, The Hindu analysed all cases involving...

 -AFP   GENEVA: Indian law enforcement and justice authorities have shirked their responsibility to fight sex attacks, a UN child rights watchdog said on Thursday, amid uproar over the horrific gang-rape and lynching of two girls.   "There has been a dereliction of duty in relation to rape cases," said Benyam Mezmur, deputy chairman of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. India has been struggling to overcome its reputation for sexual violence...

-Down to Earth Group has 1,750 farmers says pollution from industries has reduced them to poverty and political parties in power ignored their repeated pleas Ninety-five-year-old V Ammayappan is just back home from hospital after a kidney surgery. But this farmer from Melapalayam village in Tamil Nadu's Karur district is determined to cast his vote on April 24 when elections to Lok Sabha will be held in his state. He speaks with...